Lysimeter

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A measurement apparatus that determines water uptake by plants and analyzes the interaction between soil moisture and plant health
2. An analytical instrument employed to gauge water absorption by vegetation while monitoring the moisture characteristics of the soil
3. A scientific device used to measure the amount of water absorbed by plants and to study the relationship between soil moisture and plant growth

Etymology: Lysimeter is a technical coinage, built in the modern era from two Greek elements rather than inherited from antiquity. The first part comes from the ancient Greek "lúsis," meaning "loosening" or "release," and the second is the familiar "-meter," from "métron," "measure." Put together, the name describes an instrument that measures what is loosened or drained away, which is exactly its job: it tracks how much water leaves a volume of soil through drainage. Ancient Greeks had no such instrument, so the word should not be read as a classical term applied to modern science. Its parts are classical, but the combination was made for a scientific purpose. The "-meter" ending follows the same pattern as many scientific instruments, such as thermometer and barometer, which is why the word looks so recognisable even to people who have never encountered it.